Contents

Development

Development Sketch

Fluttershy's caring nature and appearance is similar to Posey, an Earth pony in the 1980s My Little Pony toy lines and show. Her initial design, published online by Lauren Faust, refers to her as "Posey" as well. Her cutie mark, three pink and cyan butterflies, is similar to that of the G2 pony Sky Skimmer. Fluttershy's name is shared by a previous generation Earth pony, who is a photography enthusiast.

Depiction in the series

Personality

Shyness and timidity

Fluttershy worrying about Rainbow Dash's performance in the Best Young Flyers' competition

When Fluttershy is first introduced in the series, she barely manages to tell Twilight Sparkle her name out of shyness, going so far as to be reduced to whimpering in fear. However, she becomes very conversational when she notices Spike, imploring the baby Dragon to tell her "everything about himself" (which he does), and follows him and Twilight all the way to Twilight's residence. Her shyness occasionally locks horns with Rainbow Dash's brashness, most notably in Dragonshy, and to a lesser extent in Sonic Rainboom. What is noticeable is that throughout season 1, Fluttershy's shyness often annoys Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow expresses her aggravation towards her. However, throughout season 2, they have become very close friends, even sharing a song together in May the Best Pet Win.
She is terrified of fully grown dragons and repeatedly freezes in place when she and her friends go on an expedition to confront a dragon in Dragonshy. Twilight encourages her and tells her that her understanding of animals will come in handy in the expedition, and Applejack pushes her forward through some of the journey,File:Fluttershy staring down the dragon.png also literally pulling her up the mountain, and defends her from disparaging remarks. Pinkie Pie is able to help Fluttershy gain enough confidence to attempt to jump across a chasm in Dragonshy, and in Feeling Pinkie Keen, Fluttershy repeats the jumping line Pinkie Pie taught her. Near the end of the episode, when Fluttershy sees her friends being harmed by the dragon, she is able to overcome her fear and cause the dragon to back down by scolding him. In Stare Master, she's able to drive away a wild cockatrice in a similar manner.

Fluttershy practices cheering with Rainbow Dash in Sonic Rainboom, but her loudest cheer is frustratingly quiet for Dash. When Rainbow Dash successfully performs her sonic rainboom, Fluttershy cheers extremely loudly, and hops up and down in excitement, while the others only stand with mouths agape, shocked at the event. In "Stare Master," she's forced to raise her voice twice to gain the Cutie Mark Crusaders' attention.

Fluttershy cheers Rainbow Dash very quietly, much to Dash's frustration.

She is reduced to tears by Gilda in Griffon the Brush Off when the griffon shouts at her for bumping into her. Afterwards, when Pinkie tells her "[not to worry about] mean old Gilda, your auntie Pinkie Pie has it all taken care of." Fluttershy gets slightly annoyed at the patronizing comment and replies that she's a year older than Pinkie. Pinkie Pie exempts Fluttershy from her pranks for fear of hurting her feelings, and she's outraged when she sees Gilda yelling at Fluttershy.

In Luna Eclipsed, Fluttershy sequesters herself at home in her cottage during Nightmare Night, and refuses to answer the door until she learns that it is Twilight who is calling.

In Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy transforms her shyness into assertiveness after attending a seminar from Iron Will. However, when she over-asserts herself, such as going hysterical when a mail carrier delivers her the wrong mail, Rarity and Pinkie attempt to intervene. In the end, she ultimately changes back to being shy, but with a new assertive resolve.

In Dragon Quest, she is again shown to be afraid of dragons. Fluttershy refuses to go watch the Dragon Migration with her friends, almost in a complete parallel to Dragonshy, despite all their convincing. Eventually, Fluttershy asserts herself by screaming 'No!' at Rainbow, and proceeds to run away while kicking her in the stomach.

Fluttershy training hard in preparation for the tornado.

In Hurricane Fluttershy, she tries to avoid helping the other Pegasi in the tornado formation. After Rainbow Dash comes to her house to persuade her to join in with the other Pegasi, she reveals that she is afraid of being humiliated. When she finds out her initial wingpower is .5, she runs off in tears. Later, she is motivated by her animal friends to build her wingpower, but her second wingpower rating only goes up to 2.3, and she ultimately decides not to help. However, at the end, she changes her mind, and working against her memory of ponies laughing at her when she was a filly, her wingpower skyrockets the water up to Cloudsdale, and she is cheered on afterwards by her fellow Pegasi.

Kindness and sensitivity

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of KINDNESS."

— Twilight Sparkle

When the ponies venture into the Everfree Forest, she is quick to identify that the Manticore needs help, but since she is hesitant about raising her voice, it takes her a while to stop the other ponies from attacking the creature. She reveals afterwards that while she did not know exactly what was troubling the manticore, "sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness", earning her the element of kindness and revealing her confidence in her ability with animals.

"Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness..."

— Fluttershy on her values

File:Angry fluttershy 3.png When her patience is pushed by the creatures of Canterlot's garden in The Best Night Ever, who don't want to play and be friends with Fluttershy, her frustration steadily builds into a very uncharacteristic fit of extreme rage.

"I'll catch you yet, my pretties. Oh yes, as soon as one of you little birds or monkeys or bears touches this net, you'll be mine! MINE! HahahaHAHAHA!'"

— Fluttershy

In The Return of Harmony Part 1, she is the only pony who doesn't fall for Discord's manipulation, much to his frustration, prompting him to forcefully hypnotize her with a simple touch and corrupt her into being cruel. In this state she is no longer timid, but rather extremely vicious and irritating to those around her. She does everything she can to inflict grief and annoyance upon her friends, such as trampling the flowers in front of the library and asking Twilight: "What's soaking wet and clueless?", only to pour a bucket of water on Twilight and answering her own riddle with "Your face!" When Twilight Sparkle sets out to set the others straight using a "memory spell", Twilight and Applejack are forced to capture and hogtie her, with Applejack standing on her tail to prevent her from flying away. Fluttershy initially believes her corrupted state to be a "horrible dream".

Skills

Many Pegasus ponies are involved in manipulating the weather, but Fluttershy, being a relatively poor flier, focuses on caring for animals.

Animal care

In A Bird in the Hoof, she cares for a "sick" bird, Philomena, with the aid of a thermometer, a stethoscope, and medicine, implying she is competent in treating animals; at the beginning of the episode, there is a mouse in a wheelchair meeting its family with a plaster cast that appears to have been made by Fluttershy. Later on, she introduces Philomena to another one of her patients, Hummingway, who has recuperated under her care. Nevertheless, her skill may not extend to animals she is unfamiliar with, as her attempts to treat Philomena only seem to make things worse; albeit nothing Fluttershy could have done would have cured Philomena, as the phoenix is not unwell, but reaching the end of one of her life cycles. In Lesson Zero, she appears to aggressively attack a bear, going as far as to seemingly snap its neck, but is actually giving it a rather intense massage.

The Stare

While generally soft-spoken and timid, she is capable of giving "The Stare", a fierce and paralyzing gaze capable of taming and intimidating animals. It is first brought up when Rarity asks if Fluttershy used it on Opal, which Fluttershy says she did not.

In Stare Master, she uses the stare on her chickens. When one of the chickens, Elizabeak, escapes into the Everfree Forest, the Cutie Mark Crusaders go looking for it, and later Fluttershy goes looking for the Crusaders. She finds Twilight Sparkle petrified, and later comes across the cockatrice that petrified both Twilight and the missing chicken. Fluttershy uses the stare on the cockatrice even as it's in the middle of turning her to stone. She admonishes the creature, uses "The Stare" on it, and tells it to turn the chicken and Twilight Sparkle back to normal. This cows the cockatrice into submission, and later both the chicken and Twilight Sparkle are found safe and sound. After staring down a dragon in Dragonshy, once it is no longer a threat, she reverts to her kind, gentle self, and tries to calm down the dragon. She once again uses the Stare at the end of Putting Your Hoof Down on Angel when he refuses to eat his carrot salad.

Flying

Fluttershy conquering her fears, and talking to the dragon.

Fluttershy is an adequate flier under normal circumstances, but seems to lose her flying ability in moments of fear; in Dragonshy, she is rendered paralyzed in midair upon hearing the dragon's snore at the bottom of the mountain, and is later shown to be incapable of crossing a chasm using her wings even as the paralysis has faded. She only regains her flying ability right after she starts growing angry at the dragon as it threatens her friends - the moment she conquers her fear. In Feeling Pinkie Keen, she does not fly in order to escape the hydra, though she is seen flapping her wings while running and jumping.

Fluttershy is only barely able to carry Twilight Sparkle a short distance in Friendship is Magic, part 2, even with Rainbow Dash's help.

Fluttershy also tries to carry Rainbow Dash in May The Best Pet Win after Rainbow Dash asks for a pet, but she can not get Rainbow off the ground and Rainbow has to help Fluttershy by flying herself.

Nevertheless, during The Mysterious Mare Do Well, she is able to fly past Rainbow Dash in the opposite direction with little effort, dizzying her; in addition, she can outfly a weighed down Rainbow Dash while carrying two ponies and a hot air balloon after being reminded by Twilight Sparkle that if she doesn't catch her, Discord would win in The Return of Harmony, part 2. She is also seen flying for a great duration of the Find A Pet Song. In Hurricane Fluttershy, her "wing power" is initially measured as 0.5 (Her fellow Pegasi measuring around 10), with an exhaustive training session only raising it to 2.3. However, when flying with her fellow Pegasi, she pushes herself enough to help the group achieve the missing wing power necessary to create the hurricane to carry the water to Cloudsdale.

Also in Hurricane Fluttershy, she has a flashback from when she and Rainbow Dash were in Summer Flight Camp as fillies. No one thought she could fly well, as referring to the chant: "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly!" which was changed close to the end of the episode to: "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!" chanted by other Pegasi.

Sewing

She has knowledge of sewing rivaling Rarity's, which Applejack describes as "freaky" in Suited For Success. She and her friends use her knowledge to finish a dress designed by Rarity in this episode, and she recognizes machine stitching, stitching styles, uneven pleats, and specific clothing styles, such as French haute couture.

History

The episode The Cutie Mark Chronicles offers a glimpse into Fluttershy's past. Like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy hails from Cloudsdale. As a filly, she was not a very good flier, and was bullied by some of the other ponies, who nicknamed her "Klutzershy". She was taller and ganglier than the other foals, with slightly larger wings. Rainbow Dash, however, stood up for her, and challenged the bullies to a race in which the participants unintentionally knocked Fluttershy down to the ground, a place she had never been before. She was saved from a rough landing by falling onto a large group of butterflies. Upon seeing all the different animals which lived on the ground for the first time, Fluttershy was so overjoyed, she started singing. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom scared all the animals away; however, Fluttershy was able to calm them down, and learned that she had a talent for communicating with animals. It was at that point she gained her cutie mark, which was butterflies and a lifelong love of animals.

Fluttershy's cottage.

Fluttershy lives in a cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest and on the outskirts of Ponyville. It appears in several episodes, including Dragonshy, Swarm of the Century, and Stare Master, where it is one of the primary sets of the episode. The cottage's roof is covered in grass and is filled with runways, holes and perches for animals. In May the Best Pet Win!, Fluttershy is delighted to hear that Rainbow Dash desires a pet and takes her to her cottage's backyard, where she presents her friend with a great variety of animals to choose from.

Much is learned about the friendship between Fluttershy and Rarity during Green Isn't Your Color. The two meet regularly every week at Ponyville's day spa to catch up. Rarity expresses admiration of Fluttershy's grace and poise in the episode, and implores Fluttershy to model her clothing, but as she is aware that Fluttershy doesn't enjoy putting herself in front of people, Rarity only asks her when Photo Finish comes to photograph her work. Throughout the episode, Fluttershy has a hard time coping with the large amounts of attention. Despite this, she is willing to put up with it because she believes it makes Rarity happy. Likewise, Fluttershy is not exempt from Rarity's envy of her fame; however, Twilight eventually gets the two to solve their problems.

Pets

Like any animal lover, Fluttershy has several animals that live with her or near her. Prominent among Fluttershy's pets is her bunny Angel. Introduced in the third episode, Angel is shown to be more firm and assertive than Fluttershy, often trying to motivate her to stand up for herself, and not let other ponies take advantage of her. Examples of this include A Bird in the Hoof, where he locks her out of the cottage in order to prevent her from being late (she kept returning to thank him for reminding her), and in The Ticket Master, where he persuades her to pursue the extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala because she is too shy to do so herself. However, in Putting Your Hoof Down, Angel is shown to be stubborn and temperamental when he refuses to eat a carrot salad she prepared for him.

In addition to Angel, Fluttershy appears to have several more animals that she pals around with more often than not. Among these are a hummingbird named Hummingway, a pair of otters, and a chicken named Elizabeak.

There are far more animals that accompany her at random times, such as squirrels, mice, bats, and even a bear at one point, but most of these have not been given names.

Other depictions

Hasbro.com description

A graceful, fawn-like filly, Fluttershy's gentle, serene ways makes her unusually attractive to all types of forest animals, whose care and high priority. She'd like nothing more than to spend every waking moment caring for her animal friends in her secluded meadow cottage, and that's because Fluttershy is, well... shy. Sweet, soft-spoken and often fearful, her pony friends treasure her kindness, but have to work hard to help her come out of her shell. To their surprise, however, she emits an intimidating strength when she witnesses someone being treated unfairly. Fluttershy has a lot of fears to overcome, but certainly one day her strength of character and enormous heart will make her a force to be reckoned with!

Hubworld description

Graceful Fluttershy has a special way with forest animals. Her favorite thing is to care for them in her quiet meadow cottage. That's because Fluttershy is, well... shy. She's sweet, soft-spoken, and kind of a scaredy-pony. Her friends love her for her kindness and they work hard to bring her out of her shell.

Hubworld video

A friend to the forest, Fluttershy is the gentle, soft-spoken member of the group. Sweet and caring, she makes plenty of space in her tucked-away cottage for helping anyone in need of her love and care, especially her little animal friends. But don't be fooled: although she is timid, she is a determined pony with admirable strength. She always defends those who are treated unfairly. With an enormous heart, and the ability to fly, this Pegasus pony is a gentle soul who always rises to the occasion and is always there when her friends need her.

My Little Pony magazine description

Graceful

Musical

Gentle

She's rather shy and loves to sing with animal friends. Fluttershy is generous and sweet, sometimes a little too trusting and always eager to help.

Merchandise

On the back of the Canterlot toy set Royal Ball at Canterlot Castle, Fluttershy is printed wingless.

"How dare you? How dare you! Listen here, mister. Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully. You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire. But you do not-- I repeat-- You do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?"

"All right! Since you really want to know...*inhales* The armscye's tight, the middy collar doesn't go with the shawl lapel, the hems are clearly machine-stitched, the pleats are uneven, the fabric looks like toile, you used a backstitch when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe a traditional blanket stitch and the overdesign is reminiscent of pret-a-porter and not true French haute coture. But, uh... you know...um, whatever you want to do is fine."

"I can't believe that the two most frivolous ponies in Ponyville are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life, when they are throwing their own lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about!"